


Better Than Blast-O's

by Resmiranda



Category: Mass Effect, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Anniversary, Fluff, Ice Cream, M/M, Post-Reaper War, Space Husbands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-04
Updated: 2017-08-04
Packaged: 2018-12-11 00:14:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11702772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Resmiranda/pseuds/Resmiranda
Summary: Kaidan knows John didn't get a lot of "normal" childhood experiences, so he has a sweet surprise for their anniversary.





	Better Than Blast-O's

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mareel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mareel/gifts), [AnnaRaven](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnaRaven/gifts).



> Thanks to [Nikooki](http://nikooki.tumblr.com/) and [potionsmaster](http://archiveofourown.org/users/potionsmaster/pseuds/potionsmaster) for the beta/titling assistance!

John woke with a jerk, instantly alert and tuned to the soft string of curses coming from the kitchen.

“Kaidan?” he called, already halfway out of bed.

His husband appeared in the doorway and for a second John’s finger’s twitched—more than a little disturbed at how much that reminded him of a banshee.

Kaidan’s face was all big, sad, brown eyes, and damn if that didn’t get him every time.

“Sorry, Shepard. I, uh, caught my toes on one of the stool legs. I was hoping to let you sleep in for at least a little longer.” He snaked his hands around John’s bare torso as he came closer and accepted John’s morning kiss, letting it linger a little longer than usual. “Not the most romantic way to wake on your anniversary, eh?”

“That’s Shepard-Alenko, and I believe you mean _our_ anniversary,” he automatically corrected. “And you’re going to have to do more than that to make it an unhappy one, Alenko-Shepard.” He pressed another firm kiss to Kaidan’s lips, feeling the other man smile.

“Well, hopefully, I can make it up to you right now. Grab your hoodie and c’mon.” He waited for John to retrieve the jacket from where he’d thrown it on the floor last night, grasping him by the hand when he returned and leading him into one of the kitchen chairs.

“You made breakfast?”

Kaidan smiled. “I did. A very special breakfast.”

The response was cryptic enough that John raised an eyebrow at him, a little wary.

“Should I be concerned?”

Kaidan threw a mildly exasperated look at him, but remained in good humor. “Since when has anything I made actually turned out that bad?”

John opened his mouth—“When you _weren’t_ distracting me.”—he snapped his mouth closed.

“Uh-huh.”

Kaidan opened the freezer and pulled out a perfectly normal looking storage container, which he placed down on the counter out of John’s line of sight and began scooping something into a couple of bowls. John waited, but with grudging patience. He was more than a little curious as to what this big surprise anniversary breakfast was supposed to be. Especially if it came out of the freezer.

Finally, Kaidan put down his scoop and fetched two spoons from a drawer, then whisked around the counter to set one bowl of… something in front of John.

He stared at it. It was… creamy-looking.  Three round balls that kind of looked like mashed potato rations, but less textured. Kaidan was beaming down at him, and a pang of guilt hit him squarely in the chest. Kaidan was clearly proud of this, but John was about as well-versed in what this was as he was on hanar mating rituals.

A warm, rough hand brushed down his neck and rested just under the shoulder of his hoodie, skin to skin. “Don’t worry. I wasn’t expecting you to recognize it. It’s ice cream, John.”

A light flickered on in his head. John knew what ice cream was, he’d just never seen it in this form before. The store displays and advertisements always showed a variety of colorful triangular swirls on top of what he’d always assumed was a cone-shaped cookie. He didn’t know some people served it in heaps instead.

He looked up to where Kaidan had moved to sit down across from him, his own bowl in hand. A swell of emotion tightened his throat. He tried to clear it away, but it didn’t budge. He looked up at his husband, who was still smiling, though it had softened around the edges.

“You made this for me?” As hard as he tried, he couldn’t rid his voice of the gruffness entirely.

“Yeah. Mom has a neighbor with a cow that gave birth a few months back. She traded some of her produce for milk and had it shipped to me along with her recipe. I may have, uh, used some of my connections to get the other ingredients.”

John raised one delightedly scandalized eyebrow. “Kaidan Alenko-Shepard. Are you telling me you used your Spectre codes to requisition ingredients for my anniversary gift?”

Kaidan rubbed at the back of his head, toffee eyes looking askance. “Uh, no… I actually called in a favor with a vorcha… friend.”

John looked him over at length, puzzle pieces slowly coming together. “Wait… Is this the thing with the maf—”

Kaidan quickly held up his hands. “Before you interrogate me, you should really eat that. It’s starting to melt.”

John eyed him suspiciously, but looked down, eyes narrowing in dissatisfaction when he discovered Kaidan was right. It was beginning to look a bit soupy.

“I’m going to get that story out of you one day.”

Kaidan grinned at him. “Eat your ice cream, John.”

Doing as told, John picked up his spoon and pressed it into the ice cream, surprised at how quickly it glided through. His mashed potato analogy wasn’t that far off. A funny kind of fluttering made itself known in his gut—different from the kind he got when Kaidan started kissing down his spine, but not quite the one he got before he jumped out of a shuttle into a hot-zone, either. Tentatively, he pushed the spoon into his mouth, surprised when a creamy sweetness immediately began liquefying on his tongue. Kind of like a sweet version of come. He let it roll over this tongue, savoring the moment. He’d lusted after ice cream more than once as a kid, and finally, at 38, he was getting to try some.

His eyes got hot and he blinked a few times. Kaidan was looking at him expectantly over his own bowl, spoon in his mouth.

“It’s…” he found he lacked adequate adjectives for everything he was experiencing, so he kept it simple. “It’s good. Sweet. I like it.” He smiled at Kaidan. His expression was an even better gift than the ice cream.

He took another spoonful, bigger this time. He kept catching Kaidan’s eyes as they ate, eyes crinkled at the corners and lips curved around a spoon. Something occurred to him between mouthfuls.

“This tastes far too good to be healthy.”

“Oh, it isn’t,” Kaidan assured.

“But your mom made this for you for breakfast?”

Kaidan snorted around his spoon, which quickly turned into a full-bellied laugh. John watched him, only minorly annoyed.

Kaidan had one more good laugh before calming enough to explain himself. “Definitely _not._ Ice cream is a dessert, John. Maybe a treat on a hot summer day. People don’t eat it for breakfast.

“We’re eating it for breakfast.”

Kaidan sighed, but it did nothing to erase the smile from his face or the odd note of pride in his voice. “Yes, we are.”

John shook his head. “Sometimes you make no sense.”

“And you make me crazy. But I love you.”

“Love you, too. This is an amazing anniversary.”

Kaidan’s smile turned mischievous. “It’s just getting started.”

John’s eyebrows raised. “There’s more? You’re going to make me look bad.” Kaidan picked up his bowl and rose, walking around and leaning over to kiss his spouse. John chased his sugar-sweetened lips, dragging it out just a little longer.

“Me? Make _you_ look bad? Impossible.”

“You say that now, but you haven’t seen my present yet.”

“Doesn’t matter. It’s from you.”

John resisted the urge to roll his eyes and gathered up that last little puddle of ice cream, closing his eyes to experience the flavor to its fullest. “You’re such a romantic.”

“Says the man who proposed on my parent’s balcony at sunset.”

John felt his cheeks go warm. “I thought you’d like it.”

Kaidan came back over to him, chuckling. “Oh, I did. I think you did, too, though.”

He was right, but he wasn’t admitting to it. Instead he pulled his husband down by his t-shirt and shut him up with his lips, already addicted to ice cream flavored kisses.

“Got time to burn off these calories before your next surprise, Spectre Alenko-Shepard?”

“Why don’t you get your ass into the bedroom and find out, Spectre Shepard-Alenko?”

John was up and out of his chair in record time.

Kaidan caught up to him in the doorway, hands snaking around his front and lips against his ear. “Happy Anniversary, John.”

John twisted to softly nip at Kaidan’s lips, a gentle smile curving them.

“Happy Anniversary, Kaidan.”

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to talk to me here or on my [Tumblr](http://resmiranda13.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> This fic can also be found [here](https://mshenkofluff.tumblr.com/post/163770900034/better-than-blasto-os).
> 
> Please let me know if you catch any typos!


End file.
